Petersen “Fueling Change” Panel

Photography by @Mo Satar & @Ron Avery

For some, College is where you get a degree in something that will allow you to pursue a career in your chosen field. For me it was where I finally figured out what I wanted to do. I did switch majors and schools a number of times thinking I knew what I wanted but ended up going down a totally different path. But it wasn’t exactly College that lead me to where I am, I more fell into it.

When I finally transferred to CSUN (Cal State University Northridge) in 2010 for a completely different major I had one year left, or so I thought. In order to fulfill a requirement, I took a creative writing class and really enjoyed it. In 2011 I went to Monterey Car Week, which I had been attending since I was a little girl, and was asked by a local Jaguar club magazine to write about my experience during the event. After this, work snowballed and I was contributing to a lot of small automotive enthusiast magazines. I then started my own website on which you are reading this story.

After working for the company that owns Motor Trend and a number of online publications, I moved onto automotive PR for a short time and then decided to dedicate myself fully to my website. Winter of 2014 I started receiving press vehicles to review for manufacturers, which added an entirely new section to my website and also started my YouTube channel. Until my current job at the Porsche Experience started I was 100% focusing on my site and developed a large social media following on facebook. Now, most days are dedicated to coaching people how to drive Porsche’s, but I still am able to partake in a few unique opportunities.

One morning in early March I received a message from the Petersen Museum asking if I’d be interested in being a panelist in an all-female group focusing on women in the industry and how we got to where we are. This immediately sounded like something I wanted to be a part of and accepted.

The panel included Amber Blonigan, founder of Gi Motorsports, Jessica Chou of Jessicann on YouTube, Krisdtine Cline, founder of Grease Girl and Aimee Shackelford, manager of goldRush Rally. We all came from fairly different backgrounds but share the car passion.

The panel ran about an hour and a half and consisted of general questions about being a female in the industry and any difficulties we may have overcome. Some questions were directed towards us individually. My questions were about my experience as a driver and if I encountered any issues along the way.

I was pretty nervous going in, having never participated in a panel in front of as many people that showed up. It went much better for me than I expected. After answering the first question which was about myself and how I ended up where I am, the nerves subsided and it became fun and interesting to hear everyone else’s stories. The panel was live streamed on Facebook (click here for the video) where you can watch.

Some exciting things have come out of participating in the panel for me, which I will be reporting on when they happen.